DJ, my family and I wouldn't really call military living the same as living in another country. While they have done a great service to our country even they know they aren't "living" the life of an expat.

The base creates an illusion of a microcosm of American life. They get US networks beamed over there. Most of the food in the BX is the same they could find in any American grocery store. Except a brave few and the occassional lifer most do speak the local language. Rarely do they interact with the locals except on business reasons. On the occasion they do interact with the local populace it is generally with a superior attitude and mistrust on both sides.

Like you, my sister can't wait to go back to the US. Life hasn't changed all that much for her.

I on the other hand, I have to deal with issues other immigrants face when moving abroad. What I couldn't sell, give away, or throw away is packed up in my parents' garage. I deal directly with the bureaucracy of my host country and interact with the people because I have to and want to. I stopped being a tourist a long time ago. The lustre of the city is transparent for me. My life is Metro, boulot, dodo; subway, work, sleep.

I've been back to the US for visits and it's hard to readjust. The food isn't as good. When I go to Walmart I spend hours there because I can't find anything that really appeals to me. For me, there is no there there. I no longer have a home in the US, I have one in my new country. Unlike a few of the other immigrants I've met here. I have comfort in the knowledge that my papers are in order and I can go home in an instant. The country I left isn't war torn and broken. Like you, I do feel luck to be born American.

My other American expat friends are even further out then I am. They've been abroad for decades and I only a few years. They are, almost, completely cutoff from the US except a passport and the occasional call from family. Some have picked up the terrible habit of going native even more than the natives. i.e. will not speak their mother tongue, will not interact with others from their country.

Change is a certainty, but it's more difficult when it's so dramatic. When I come back I find some of my friends have moved, or died. The places I used to hangout don't exist anymore. The biggest expat complaint about going home is the ignorance. In a certain way, I have become an ambassador for my host country. Letting my friends know that: the people aren't unwashed masses, they don't hate you, and national healthcare can work if run right.